Best of 2014: skincare

2014 was the year of my increased interest in skincare. Thanks to my half-year-long love affair with Memebox I extended my skincare routine, adding many products I'd never used on regular basis before. Although my routine consists now of two cleansers, a toner/a face mist, an essence, a moisturiser, an eye cream, a neck product, a body lotion, a foot cream, a hand cream, and a face mask or a spot treatment from time to time and some other Korean goodies I have forgotten to mention, not all of these categories are enumerated below because I don't think the products I used, however satisfactory they may be, didn't stand out of the crowd much and can be easily replaced with other, similar products.

EYES

My undereye is very dry and wrinkle prone, I also occassionally suffer from allergic reactions to skincare which manifest themselves with a rash and swelling under one my right eye which only can make matters worse. That is why eye care is given the utmost priority in my routine. Last year I was lucky enough to discover 3 perfect eye creams, one of them I have already repurchased.

La Roche Posay Redermic C Eyes  and Pro You Lip&Eye Wrinkle Spot Cream are lovely lightweight moisturisers which definitely prevented my undereye from further wrinkling and Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado is a heavy eye cream which is a lifesaver in periods of extreme dryness.

CLEANSING

I can't live without oil cleansers. They normally last for 3-4 months, which means I used about 3 last year and the most successful one turned out to be the DHC Deep Cleansing Oil. It's not only successful at removing my make-up, but also it contains superb ingredients and is based on natural plant oils not on mineral oil. 

SERUM

I hadn't used any serums on regular basis until last year. Serums, essences and ampoules are staples in Korean skincare and I had the opportunity to incorporate many of them into mine. My favourite moisturising serums which I used at night time were IOPE Essential Skin Boosting Serum and Pro You Wrinkle SC Renewal Ampoule and I absolutely loved Carestory Ramosu Collagen Ampoule 200 for under make-up. It magically matified my skin and tightened my pores, though I believe anyone with dry skin could actually hate this product.

CREAM

Again, Pro You and Iope are winners in this category. Horrendously priced with 85+ price tags, Pro You Wrinkle SC Renewal Cream and IOPE Essential Moisture Relief Cream were amazing moisturisers that made a visible difference to the condition of my skin. 

IOPE Essential Facial Oil is a face oil that even oily skin appreciates a lot. I use this at night and wake up with soft and smooth skin. 

FACE MASK

Eve Lom Rescue Mask made it for the top of my list. This mask has it all. It helps control sebum production, tightens pores, refreshes, nourishes and exfoliates. Makes my skin feel amazing afterwards.

Another great pick was The Body Shop Seaweed Ionic Clay Mask which has similar benefits to the Eve Lom one, less the exfoliating factor.

BODY BUTTER

I'm a great fan of The Body Shop body products, but their Argan Oil Body Butter exceeded all my expectations. It was deliciously smooth on my skin and smelled just divine. 

FOOT PEEL

And finally a product which made my feet look similar to my sons' feet. This is the Purederm Exfoliating Foot Mask. This is the sock type mask that seems not to do anything to ypur feet at first, but in about a week's time you start shedding dead skin like a snake and after about 2 weeks your feet look like new. Incredible!